Dec 13, 2023 2 min read

By Brad Hundt

Staff writer

bhundt@observer-reporter.com

CANONSBURG – Canonsburg Borough Council failed to vote on a plan Monday that would have sold the Canonsburg Houston Joint Sewer Authority to the water company Aqua, despite Houston Borough having approved the plan last month.

Eric Chandler, the president of Canonsburg Borough Council, characterized the vote as “probably one of the biggest decisions this council will make.” Council had tabled a decision last month, and when it came up for a vote Monday, it failed for lack of a second.

The potential sale of the sewer authority had been initiated by the board that controls it, Chandler explained, and the borough council didn’t feel like it was fully part of the conversation. Chandler said the possible sale sparked “really mixed emotions.”

If Canonsburg had agreed to sell the authority to the Bryn Mawr-based Aqua for $145 million, it would have set in motion a process that would have involved public hearings, and the sale being OK’d by the upstream communities of North Strabane, Chartiers and Cecil townships and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Altogether, the process would have taken about two years.

Aqua was one of two bidders for the authority, the other being Pennsylvania American Water.

Would Canonsburg entertain the possibility of selling the authority at some point in the future? “Anything is possible,” Chandler said.

In contrast to Canonsburg, Houston’s council unanimously agreed to sell the authority to Aqua. Houston owns 12% of it, and James Stubenbordt, the borough’s mayor, said parting with it would have been a benefit to the borough because it wouldn’t have had to find money to maintain sewer lines.

“That’s (Canonsburg’s) decision, and we’re not able to change that,” Stubenbordt said. “You go with the flow.”